Institutional principles for negotiating with publishers

This list is part of the Open Access Directory.

• This is a list of library and university principles for negotiating with publishers. Some are from consortia rather than individual institutions.
  • When possible, include the date of public release.
  • When possible, include associated publicity such as announcements, blog posts, news articles, and interviews.
  • This list is not limited to principles for offset agreements (also known as read-and-publish, publish-and-read, transformative, transformational agreements, and so on), even though some individual sets of principles are limited in that way.

• Related lists in OAD: (1) University rights-retention OA policies, (2) University statements on OA.

• Also see: Negotiation principles internationally from Efficiency and Standards for Article Charges (ESAC). The ESAC list and the present list overlap but differ in focus. By design, the ESAC list includes some entries that we omit and vice versa.

• Alphabetical by institution.

---

A

• Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) [consortium]
  • Recommended Principles and Terms for Electronic Resource Agreements, version 1.0 dated Spring 2022 (announced February 15, 2022).
  • Also see the Google Doc version.
  • The 11 ASERL Recommended Principles and Terms for Electronic Resource Agreements, Spring 2022.

C

• Colorado State University
  • Resolution in Support of Libraries Licensing Priorities, February 6, 2024.
  • Announcement, February 21, 2024.

• Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) [consortium]
  • 2022 Agreement Principles, April 2021.
  • Principles & Framework for Pricing Digital Content, June 2019.

E

• Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) [consortium]
  • EIFL principles for negotiating open access agreements with publishers, n.d.

• Electronic Information Service National Programme (EISZ) (Hungary)
  • Principles for transitional Open Access agreements under the framework of Electronic Information Service National Programme, December 14, 2018.

F

• FORCE11
  • Declaration of Researcher Rights in Negotiating the Future of Scholarly Communication, June 1, 2021.

G

• Grand Valley State University (GVSU)
  • Principles for GVSU negotiations as summarized by librarian A. Scarlet Galvan, January 8, 2020.

• Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA) [consortium]
  • GWLA Licensing Principles, June 12, 2020.
  • GWLA Model License, last revised November 2019.

I

• Iowa State University (ISU)
  • Principles for Advancing Openness through Journal Negotiations, June 1, 2019.
  • Faculty senate green lights negotiation principles with unanimous vote, October 19, 2019.

• Irish Research Library (IReL)
  • IReL principles for Open Access publisher agreements from 2020, July 2019. Building on the LIBER principles (below) and adding five new principles.

J

• Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)
  • The JISC page on its role in open access includes sections on "Negotiating a transition to open access", "Requirements for transitional agreements", "Requirements for transformative journals", and "Requirements for green compliant agreements".

• Japan Alliance of University Library Consortia for E-Resources (JUSTICE)
  • Negotiation Policy for the Realization of the Open Access Publishing Model, March 24, 2022.

L

• Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche (LIBER) (Association of European Research Libraries)
  • Open Access: Five Principles for Negotiations with Publishers, September 7, 2017.
  • Four Urgent Recommendations for Open Access Negotiations with Publishers, January 4, 2022.

M

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  • The MIT Framework itself, October 23, 2019.
  • Announcement of the MIT Framework, October 23, 2019.
  • Harvard Library statement in support of the MIT Framework (part of a larger statement on OA), October 23, 2019.
  • UCalifornia statement in support of the MIT Framework, December 17, 2019.
  • NERL endorsed the MIT Framework, January 21, 2020.
    • NERL endorsed it again in its own negotiating principles (more under NERL below), March 3, 2021.
  • MIT elaboration and update of its Framework, January/February 2022.
  • Statement of support for the MIT Principles by Oregon State University Libraries, Portland State University Library, and the University of Oregon Libraries, March 7, 2022.

N

• Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) (Dutch Research Council)
  • Transformative agreements: What NWO expects from publishers, June 5, 2020.

• NorthEast Research Libraries Consortium (NERL) [consortium]
  • NERL demands a better deal, March 3, 2021. These are the NERL negotiating principles.
  • NERL endorsed the MIT Framework in the doc above and in a separate doc, January 21, 2021
  • NERL Develops Preferred Deal Elements for License Negotiations, May 26, 2021. This has a useful table of the NERL negotiating goals, May 26, 2021.

• Norwegian directorate for ICT and joint services in higher education and research (UNIT)
  • Its cancellation of the Elsevier big deal included five principles for future negotiations, March 12, 2019.

S

• Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)
  • Open Access Agreements: Factors to Consider, September 27, 2021.

• South African National Library and Information Consortium (SANLiC) [consortium]
  • Framework for Publisher Open Access (Transformational) Agreements, July 2021.

• Southern European Libraries Link (SELL) [consortium]
  • Southern European Libraries Link Statement, June 5, 2018.

• Swissuniversities [consortium]
  • Factsheet on the negotiating strategy of swissuniversities, November 8, 2018.

T

• Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) [consortium]
  • TRLN Guide to Negotiating Accessibility in E-Resource Licenses, December 2022.
  • Announced December 14, 2022.
  • This guide focuses on accessibility (a11y) for impaired and disabled users.

U

• Universiteitsbibliotheken en Koninklijke Bibliotheek (UKB) (Netherlands)
  • Checklist: Big Deals and Open Access clauses: Towards negotiations and establishing work processes, March 3, 2017.

• University of California
  • Declaration of Rights and Principles to Transform Scholarly Communication, April 25, 2018.
    • Another copy, June 3, 2019.
  • Negotiating Journal Agreements at UC: A Call to Action, June 2018.
  • Announcement of the UC principles, June 21, 2018.
  • Berkeley blog post about the principles, July 27, 2018.
  • Negotiating with scholarly journal publishers: A toolkit from the University of California, May 2019.
  • University of California Academic Council Statement on the University Libraries’ Negotiations with Publishers Regarding Fair Use, Text and Data Mining, and Artificial Intelligence Usage Rights, May 7, 2024.
  • Guidelines for Evaluating Transformative Open Access Agreements, n.d.

• University of Colorado, Boulder
  • Resolution in Support of Libraries Licensing Priorities, October 5, 2023.
  • Also see the announcement and summary, October 11, 2023.
  • Also see the SPARC announcement, covering both the U of Colorado resolution (here) and the U of Wyoming resolution (below), December 20, 2023.

• University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • UMass Amherst Framework Principles for Provider Agreements, February 2021.
  • Framework for Provider Agreements, n.d.
  • Framework for Provider Agreements Frequently Asked Questions, n.d.

• University of Maryland
  • Licensing principles, n.d.
  • Announced May 27, 2021.

• University of North Texas
  • Expectations for Library Vendors, first released February 2, 2018; subsequently revised more than once.

• University of Texas, Austin
  • Appendix 4 on Licensing and Negotiation, pp. 71-75, of UT's Sustainable Open Scholarship, December 2021.

• University of Washington
  • UW Libraries’ Principles in Licensing Scholarly Resources, adopted April 2019, last updated September 2022.
  • UW Faculty Senate votes to support the UW Libraries’ Principles in Licensing Scholarly Resources, April 14, 2022

• University of Wyoming
  • Resolution in Support of University Libraries Licensing Priorities, November 28, 2023
  • Also see the SPARC announcement, covering both the U of Wyoming resolution (here) and the U of Colorado resolution (above), December 20, 2023.